I was fortunate enough to get to run both on Thursday afternoon and again on Sunday morning. Given the ages and activity levels of my kids, and the other extracurricular activities typically part of the my home life, this is a Good Thing.

While I was on the back portion of the out-n-back of Sunday's run, I thought about the two primary differences in my running style. Though consistent throughout is a stumbling, lurching, ham-footed physical component, the philosophy of how I ran was quite different between the two.

Thursday was a SLOE run. That's an acronym I just made up for Same Level Of Effort. When I say I had a SLOE run on Thursday, I mean it was the type of run where I don't ease up on downhills. (Flats? Ha. Not to be found anywhere I run.) Whatever effort I am putting into the climbs I try to maintain on the downs. While going downhill, I try to keep my breathing extended, and heart rate up. Typically, I try this for runs less than 10 miles. It fits with the "do every run like a race, and every race becomes just another run" psychosis I've read about. It worked on Thursday, as I "blazed" the afternoon run.

I partook (partaked?) of the other run type on Sunday: The SUDS run. I also claim creation-credit for this as a running philosophy acronym. A SUDS run is a Same Up Down Speed run. I typically do SUDS runs on longer, or more relaxed runs. How I do it is thus: Since nearly all my runs start uphill, I set an uphill pace that I can maintain for mile after mile. For me, that's an 11--14 minute mile depending on the expected slope. I "set my gear" and go. When I hit a downhill (or on the downhill part of an out-n-back), I don't increase the speed, I use it as a "breath catcher" and to ease the strain on the legs. This methodology has served me well: my longest climb doing this was 12 miles (Sierra Canyon to The Bench on the TRT), and it worked yesterday on the steeper 7 mile 4500' climb up the Ophir Creek trail.

Oh, and a SUDS run is one where I have beer at the end. So a SLOE run can still have a SUDS finish. Some imagery from Sunday: